1. Field of the Invention
Various types of mobile surface abrading apparatus are known in the art. These apparatus are typically characterized by vehicles of specific design carrying one or more abrader units designed to impinge an abrasive material against the surface as the vehicles move over the surface to modify the surface for cleaning, surface preparation, or to provide better traction for rubber tire vehicle traffic. One of the functions of these devices is the requirement for making multiple passes over the surface in order to treat the surface in one or more overlapping passes, which must join each other precisely to provide an evenly abraded surface.
The traverse carriage and operator or positioning device of this invention are designed to precisely adjust one or more abrader units transversely to the longitudinal axis of a mobile surface abrading apparatus to facilitate a more accurate overlap and a broader multiple pass operation and accompanying increased operating efficiency, which translates into reduced operating expense. The traverse carriage and operator include a traverse carriage or weldment movably mounted by means of a sliding device or rollers transversely on a cross-member such as an I-beam, fixed to the vehicle chassis and positioned by a cylinder or actuator device attached between the vehicle and the carriage for moving the carriage from side-to-side in selected increments to achieve optimum efficiency in swath overlap and width enhancement of the underlying surface to be treated.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Several United States patents describe typical mobile surface abrading apparatus having adjustable abrader units. Most of the units described in these patents have the abrader unit (or blast head) rigidly mounted to the vehicle chassis and do not allow vertical movement of the abrader unit or horizontal or transverse abrader movement. These devices use resilient, (typically rubber) seals between the blast head and the surface to prevent the escape of abrasive. These seals are supposed to correct surface unevenness.
It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved traverse carriage and positioning operator for moving a carriage or weldment transversely to the longitudinal movement (or travel) of a mobile surface abrading carrying vehicle, to position one or more abrader units attached to the carriage in a selected path of abrasion over a surface to be treated.
Another object of this invention is to provide a traverse carriage and operator or positioning device for suspending one or more abrader units in a precise location over a surface to be textured or treated and transversely operating the abrader unit to cover a desired swath or treatment path relatively parallel to, but not necessarily centered with, the path of the host vehicle.
These and other objects of the invention are provided in a traverse carriage and operator for suspending one or more abrader units in a mobile surface abrading vehicle or apparatus over a surface to be treated, which traverse carriage includes a weldment movably mounted by means of a friction-reducing sliding device or rollers on a cross-member (typically an I-beam) fixed to the carrying vehicle or apparatus and designed to transversely traverse the cross-member in selected increments responsive to operation of a positioning device or operator to precisely position the abrader unit or units carried by the weldment over a selected area of the surface during operation of the mobile surface abrading unit or apparatus.